St. Paul's Punch Pizza owner, cook attend Obama address

Punch Pizza employee Nick Chute, top left, and owner John Soranno attend President Obama's State of the Union address as guests of First Lady Michelle Obama, who stand in front of them. The president praised the St. Paul pizza restaurant for paying its employees a living wage. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Punch Pizza founder John Soranno and cook Nick Chute had choice seats Tuesday at President Barack Obama's State of the Union address.

The pair attended the event as guests of first lady Michelle Obama and sat in her reserved box in the House chambers in Washington.

The St. Paul-based, wood-fired pizza chain, which has eight locations and 300 employees in the Twin Cities area, announced in November that it would raise its employees' starting wage to $10 an hour. Obama has recently called for an increase to the national minimum wage.

"We are honored to be recognized by the president and first lady," Soranno said in a news release. "As we continue to grow Punch, we recognize that only the most dedicated employees will position us to compete and maintain the highest quality food and the best service in the market.

Soranno and co-owner John Puckett got a message last Monday from their restaurant in St. Paul's Highland Park neighborhood saying they'd gotten a call from the White House.

"We though it was a joke," Puckett said. "I mean, how could you not? ... We fully expected someone to say, 'We got you guys. April Fools!' "

But after promptly returning the call, they learned they were being considered for inclusion in the speech. They got confirmation Friday and flew to Washington, D.C., on Monday.

"We don't know how it happened," Puckett said of the White House taking notice of them. "We make about half our pizzas for Republicans and half for Democrats. We're not political."

Soranno and Puckett raised Punch's starting wage after studying companies like California's In-N-Out Burger and Costco, both of which make it a point to pay their employees what's considered a living wage.

"In the year since I asked this Congress to raise the minimum wage, five states have passed laws to raise theirs," Obama said Tuesday in his address. "Many businesses have done it on their own. Nick Chute is here today with his boss, John Soranno. John's an owner of Punch Pizza in Minneapolis (sic), and Nick helps make the dough.

"Only now he makes more of it: John just gave his employees a raise, to 10 bucks an hour -- a decision that eased their financial stress and boosted their morale."

Besides its $10 starting wage, Punch also pays its managers annual salaries as high as $100,000.

Nick Woltman can be reached at 651-228-5189. Follow him on Twitter at @nickwoltman.